


A Way to Home

by Gooseberry179



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Modern Girl in Middle Earth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-02-27
Packaged: 2018-05-23 13:40:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6118159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gooseberry179/pseuds/Gooseberry179
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A not so traditional short story of a modern girl landing in Middle Earth</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introductions

“Why are we here?”

The stench of blood was filling the air and all around him Fíli could hear the moans of the wounded and the soft cries of the mourners. The battle for Erebor was over and yet it felt that the true battle for him was just ahead. With his uncle dead and his brother barely hanging to the threads of life he did not know where to go or what to do. Waiting in the hastily erected tent and to cling to his brother seemed suddenly too much and he needed some air. Fíli started to regret his decision as soon as he got outside as the air there was not any better and he felt his lungs burning. For now Balin had offered to take care of the most pressing matters and for that Fíli was very grateful for. The golden-haired elf who sat next to him now had approached him as soon as he had ducked out of the tent and had lead him away to more private place where they now sat on the barrels. Fíli looked expectantly towards the elf.

“We found her” before Fíli could scramble on his feet the elf had laid hand on his arm and all the hasty demands died on his lips.

“She yet lives. She is badly hurt but there are some things that we need to talk about”

“Will she...survive?”

The way the shoulders of the elf slumped and how he placed his elbows on his knees gave the answer enough. It was odd to see a being as proud and tall to almost curl into himself as the mere thought hurt him.

“What about you wanted to talk? I should be there for her before...” 

As almost resolving himself for something the elf reached to his pocket and produced a tightly rolled scroll.

“This is from her to you. Read it and then we will talk”

Fíli carefully unrolled the parchment and instantly recognized the tight flow of text that he knew belonged to Her. How many times he had seen her to sit together with Ori or his brother near the campfire, heads together and whispering and writing and giggling? Ori was good at drawing, Kíli was good with ideas and she was good with words. Their collaborations had kept the mood of the Company up on the long and sometimes grim journey to reclaim Erebor. She had been acting as Ori and Kíli were her brothers, bickering and tossing jokes with them back and forth. It often made the rest of the Company grin and sometimes even shake their heads. And now Fíli held in his hands the letter from her.

 

**_My dear Fíli,  
This hasty letter will be in the possession of an elf and I have left specific instructions for him to deliver that and one special artifact to either to you, Kíli or Thorin after the battle. I pray that that letter finds you and your family well and alive for it was my deepest wish to try to secure it would be so. Glorfindel hopefully gets the chance to explain many things to you about me and you all deserve the details. Be well my dear, stubborn and gentle dwarf._**

**_Always yours,  
Alex_**

The chocked noise from dwarf’s throat shaked Glorfindel out of the glaring contest with the trampled ground in front of him and the elf laid gently a hand on his shoulder

“Will you listen to my story? Her wish is that I tell you everything”

Nod from Fíli was all that was given as an answer.

“I need you to stay calm and just listen. All your questions I can answer after. Before I start you need to see something.”

Glorfindel reached for the pocket again and a peculiar item hanged from his fingers. The elf looked at it for a moment almost as if not wanting to part with it but handed it over to Fíli. It was an odd cylinder-shaped pendant hanging from leather cord, object being as long as his finger but much thinner.

“Is that...that’s mithril!”

“Yes. Look at the markings, master Dwarf”

Fíli read the first words engraved to the side that said “A Way To Home”. Not understanding exactly why something like that was engraved there he rolled the the pendant in his hands and then just froze. There in plain sight written in Khuzdul was his secret name! As he rolled the blasted thing in his shaking fingers he could see the secret names of both his Uncle and Kíli. The reason he knew that was because the secret names were seldom shared, only with the closest family or lovers and the names were sacred. That knowledge, that the dwarves had secret names given to them at their birth was NEVER discussed with the outsiders. Dwarves were a secretive people and they preferred it that way.

The distress that Fíli felt must have been very visible on his face because the elf just turned the cylinder in his hands to show him the bottom of the object. A lonely mountain was engraved into it with the emblem of the Durin under.

“How.Came.You.By.It.Elf?” Fíli tried to not grasp for his dagger and he really tried to stay composed.

“It is hers. The letter and the pendant were to be delivered either when she was dead or not capable to explain. We briefly met before the battle and she gave it to me. Let me tell you my story and you will understand. Will you listen to me?” 

Fíli just crossed his hands over his chest and glared. Glorfindel sighed. This was going to be much more difficult than slaying a Balrog.


	2. The story of Glorfindel

Six years ago I was patrolling on the eastern borders of Rivendell. The day had been calm and we prepared our camp for the night. Suddenly one of our guards came running saying that a lone rider was nearing our camp in full speed but the horse seemed to run like a mad one. Me and few of my comrades took off instantly with our horses to investigate. My Asfaloth was the fastest so I reached the rampage first. The horse was wounded and terrified and it took all our skill to calm it. On top of the horse was what seemed to be a human who was unconscious. We calmed the horse down enough to get to our camp and to pry the human from the saddle. It was Her, master Dwarf. Alex. Her clothes were in tatters and her hair was burned and cut short, bruises and cuts all over the body. She was in very bad state, alarmingly skinny and dirty. The biggest problem was the wound on the side of her head that was festering. I used what knowledge I had to help her and rushed to Rivendell, to Lord Elrond, for he has great healing abilities and I knew I needed to make haste. I went alone, leaving my company to follow us on slower pace. 

On the way she woke up shortly to ask my name, gave me hers and then proceeded to press into my palm the same artefact you hold right now. She whispered to me that it is a secret and to keep it safe from EVERYONE. After that she went out cold again and did not wake until week later in the House of Healing in Rivendell. By the time she woke I was out on the scouting mission again and after that I was needed to escort Lady Arwen to Lothlorien. Orcs had been starting to get bolder and everyone was needed to protect the borders. I kept my word and never told anyone about the object. 

When I finally met Alex it had been almost a year from when we found her. When I arrived back to Rivendell from Lothlorien I immediately wanted to see her although what I heard in the House of Healing broke my heart. She had been almost nonresponsive all that time. Eating when she was told, drinking when she was told. Most of her days had been spent sitting in the gardens staring into some scene in front of her that only she could see. The healers said she was fading slowly. I had to see her, I had to try to save her.

I was pointed to a garden where she was sitting in again surrounded by the most beautiful flowers but her eyes were empty. Then and there I vowed to myself and to her that I would try to bring her back to be herself. I started with the walks in the gardens. I picked flowers on the way and wove into her hair so she could smell the different smells and always brought her different sweet treat to try. I continued with asking her to be clothed into different colours and textures every day so that perhaps different senses would wake her. I told her about my adventures on our long walks. 

That continued about 2 months. Then opportunity came to me and I could take her to a party, the celebration of spring was always a merry gathering among elves and I was hoping that the music and singing would perhaps get a reaction from her. And my hopes were fulfilled that evening. I was sitting next to her when I suddenly noticed tears in her eyes and thought that was mu chance. I took her hand and guided her away from pitying eyes and presented her the pendant, calling her with her name and asking what it was and why it was a secret. That night for the first time I saw the real Alex. She drew a deep breath and for the first time really looked at me. Then and there she trusted to me the biggest and most peculiar secret.


	3. The Talk

“Do you love her?” Fíli felt his cheeks burning with embarrassment but he felt he needed to know for some odd reason. The sudden and harsh words jostled something in his stomach and Fíli felt suddenly so guilty and was unable to look into elf’s eyes. If anything, Glorfindel had proven that he was kind and he had saved her life for Mahal’s sake! But the thought that someone had maybe.....

“You are familiar of my story are you not master Dwarf? Then you know I have lived far longer in this world. I am not a creature without honor or without feelings. She later told me often that she was not made for love. It didn’t mean that I agreed with her on the matter”

“That did not answer my question”

“I love her as a daughter if that knowledge eases your mind.” Glorfindel stretched his long legs in front of him and looked at Fíli with amused quirk on his lips.” So I would be very careful who could court my daughter master Dwarf”

The red blush was spreading from dwarfs’ cheeks to his neck and he didn’t look up to confirm or deny anything. The elf just chuckled and continued without missing a beat

“My daughter is not a regular one. In fact, she is quite special. I never knew what happened to her prior our first meeting but I can guess. Coming from the east, from mountains in such a condition with a horse that was hairy and stocky...there is no big need to guess. She never talked about it though, I suspect the memories from the mountains were the ones that pushed her into that vegetative state for a year. She did not know how long she had been in Arda before we met.”

“Was she a slave to goblins and she didn’t know when she was born? She never said how old she is...”

“No master Dwarf, I do not know about goblins but I guess some of that can be true. That night she told me that she is not from Arda”

Fíli could not help but stare. 

Glorfindel continued to explain that Alex had had knowledge of many things she should not have known. She had said that in her world Arda was a story and quite popular one. There were apparently multiple books, all beloved.  
The first book described how the world was made by Maker and went into much detail about Valar and creating life. She had had an extensive knowledge that should have been long forgotten history for the race of Men. Glorfindel had not forgotten so he could test her well. She had even known much about dwarves and their history. She could not read the letters on the pendant but she knew the mountain and the mark of Durin. He had helped her to secretly translate the runes on the pendant but all that made sense to her was the phrase "A Way To Home". For some reason that had made her sad. 

She had informed the elf that the next book in series was about a hobbit. About Bilbo Baggins who joins with the band of dwarves to reclaim their lost home, Erebor. She had not given him the details nor even how the book ended, but the more she had talked the more everything had made sense. Alex had explained that even Glorfindel knowing all this could destroy the timeline of the events and she had forbidden the elf to meddle in any shape or form. She had asked what year it was and in what state Middle Earth was. Then she had proceeded to plead that Glorfindel would train her as best as he could. He had found himself in the position where he could not say no. That night he had seen in her a fire that suddenly burst forward, burning brightly as the sun. 

Glorfindel had trained her for five years and she never had complained. She had been a fast study and for a human Alex had been very nimble and graceful. After 5 years they finally had a certain hobbit and his dwarf companions as guests in Rivendell. She had told the elf that she needed to go with the Company on this quest and that Glorfindel could not deny her that. She had not explained much about it but he assumed that that was the reason she thought why she was sent to Middle Earth. 

She had told him about her world and about many things that would be hard to believe to be truth but Glorfindel told Fíli that he believed her. Her world was very advanced compared to Arda. On her Earth only Men live, there were no elves or dwarves or orcs nor magic. She had said how in her world people use special carriages to fly, even to the moon and beyond and there were contraptions to talk to people instantly all over her world. Healing was different and they did not use the horses to travel. Food was produced with the help of contraptions as well. They had somehow harnessed the energy and used it to heating the houses and light them too. She had explained that few of the books about Arda had been made as he would call them the moving pictures. It was like a play that you could watch.  
Her world had also a darker side. Weapons as Middle Earth knows were rarely used, only for shows or plays. She could not explain to Glorfindel exactly what their weapons were but some as he understood were from nature - diseases, poisoned gases and also something called bombs. The latter ones she had said could easily wipe out the whole world. He had asked about if there were more books and what they were about. There she had just smiled to him sadly and had said that some things need to happen and this was her burden to bear.

Fíli felt his head spin. It couldn’t be!!! Could it? He thought about that time in Rivendell when Alex had joined them. How reluctant everyone was to take another member to the Company. The only one who was adamant on her coming with them was uncle...Thorin had been kind to her and that was unheard of. Everyone knew the famous moodiness of his Uncle and how he did not trust anyone. His eyes opened in sudden realization. Alex must have told Thorin something and/or shown her pendant! It had always amazed him how uncle was so agreeable with her coming and how he never questioned her loyalty. It all made sense now. Suddenly he felt very tired and deflated. He felt...betrayed. Long sigh escaped his lips.

“Why she never told me anything? I believe she told Thorin something otherwise uncle would have never let her come along. Why she didn’t trust me with that herself?”

“Do not despair master Dwarf. She told me many times that it was her burden to bear and that I should not worry about it. She said that she needed to protect everyone because the knowledge that she possessed could be devastating. I had promised her to keep it all to myself and I had promised to help her. She was very determined and I had to trust her judgement. I think you should do the same.”

Fíli closed his eyes and thought for a long time about everything. It all explained how she felt a tad elfish yet still human, how her fighting style had reflected that. Her not saying much about herself and her odd protectiveness towards the Company. She had saved his life in Goblin Town by slicing a neck of a goblin that Fíli had not noticed in that big scramble and had taken attention away from Ori when the Goblin King threatened the young one with torture machines. There were more and more of such little details. She knew what was about to happen and she used it to make the situation as it was to.....what? Meant to be? Or better? Or worse? He had no idea. He felt oddly detached and small.

“Would you like to see her now?”

For a brief moment Fíli felt the sudden urge to grab a pony and just ride into some unknown direction, never to return or to look back. Everything was just too much and he felt he could not breathe or see, his heart thumping rapidly as a bird that tries to break out of its cage. He felt a warm hand on his shoulder and looked up, startled suddenly by how the elf’s tall frame had blocked the sun from him. The way that sun painted the golden hair into a halo was mesmerizing and the almost silent words coming from Glorfindel felt like a plea.

“We must see this through. For her.”


	4. Going home

The farewell was agonizing for both Fíli and Glorfindel. Although the elf stayed composed through it all Fíli could see that it was not easy. Alex was barely conscious, breathing with ragged and wet breaths. Her lower part of the spine had been shattered so she could barely use her hands and upper torso; it was a miracle that she had stayed alive till then and they all knew that time was short. Alex explained how in her book Kíli, Fíli and Thorin died in the battle for Erebor and how she tried to change that. It was planned by her and advised that Fíli stayed behind in the battle in front on the doors of Erebor and Dain went instead to Ravenhill with Thorin and Kíli, she had hoped that at least something would change from that and perhaps all in the line of Durin would survive. She never got to know that Dain had sacrificed his life to save Kíli from certain death although it was still not sure the young archer would survive and if he would in what condition he would be. Fíli had the heart to say only the half of truth to her about his brother for he dreaded that the whole truth would have sent her to even more miserable state. She warned them about a greater darkness coming, although she never specified what it was and urged them both to be ready when it was time to face it. The pendant, she explained was a vessel and in that was a substance that would take her back to her world. Fíli begged her to stay but she said that she didn’t belong to Arda and couldn’t stay even if her body would be hale and working. There was no power left in her hands so Glorfindel kissed her forehead, opened the pendant for her and helped to swallow two small pollen-like spheres. In the end she died holding their hands with the smile on her lips.

 

It is said that King Fíli never married nor took a lover. The kingdom prospered under his rule and he was devoted to his kingdom and to his people. His brother survived but could never wield the bow again. Brothers were often seen together and they helped each other through difficult times. There were no songs or tales about Alex and the Company agreed that they would not speak of her to the public. It became a tradition to once a year for the Company and to Glorfindel to gather to the summit of Erebor, near to an unmarked grave in stone to sit, feast and play music. King Fíli and his brother Kíli passed in the battle 78 years later defending their kingdom while part of the army of Sauron laid siege to Erebor. After the victory over the dark forces the tombs of the brothers were made next to their uncle in the burial chambers for the public but few knew that truly their bodies were laid to rest on the summit of Erebor, each on the side of the unmarked grave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter of my first work. I hope that whoever reads that will enjoy it!


End file.
